Candriam S.C.A. Purchases 265,750 Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 81.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 593,755 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 265,750 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $67,160,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 78.4% in the fourth quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 239 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the third quarter valued at $32,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. bought a new stake in Abbott Laboratories during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, SVP Eric Shroff sold 562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.17, for a total value of $77,651.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,970 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,417,294.90. This trade represents a 1.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares in the company, valued at $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,282 shares of company stock worth $3,263,348. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on ABT shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $135.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut Abbott Laboratories from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $138.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Abbott Laboratories presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.19.

Abbott Laboratories Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Abbott Laboratories stock opened at $137.68 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $238.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $124.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.42. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $141.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.34. The firm had revenue of $10.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. Analysts predict that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Abbott Laboratories Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Abbott Laboratories’s payout ratio is currently 30.85%.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.